Women’s basketball to take on No. 14 Purdue Sunday

Last season, the Central Michigan women’s basketball team hosted the then-No. 12 Purdue Boilermakers and won 75-62 in one of the biggest upsets in CMU women’s basketball history.

This season, Purdue (6-1) is the No. 14 team in the country and will be looking for revenge when CMU (2-3) visits Mackey Arena at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

The Chippewas are coming off of a 72-63 loss to No. 5 Notre Dame Thursday at McGuirk Arena, and head coach Sue Guevara said she knows her team faces another stiff test against the Boilermakers.

“I think winning last year will help from a confidence standpoint,” Guevara said. “Anyone who was significant against Purdue last year is back. They’re going to be gunning for us, we know that. That’s how sports are.”

If the Chippewas are going to beat Purdue for the second-straight season, they will need sophomore guards Jessica Green and Crystal Bradford to continue their strong play. The duo has been strong all season, with Green averaging a team-high 15.5 points per game and Bradford averaging 14.8 PPG. Those marks rank fourth and fifth in the Mid-American Conference.

Senior guard Brandie Baker had 16 points and 10 rebounds in last season’s game, but comes into Sunday’s game struggling, averaging just 4.5 points per game.

Purdue defeated Georgia Tech 85-73 on Tuesday. Its only loss this season came against the No. 2 Connecticut Huskies on Nov. 24.

Purdue is led by its 5-foot-6 junior guard Courtney Moses who averages 14 points per game. Redshirt junior forward KK Houser and senior forward Drey Mingo also average double-digit points at 13.1 and 11.4 points per game, respectively.

Senior forward Sam Ostarello is the team’s leading rebounder, averaging 10 per game.

“The best thing for us is that this will be a quick turn around,” Guevara said. “We don’t have a long time to feel sorry for ourselves. We need to get right back in the saddle. We won’t practice (Friday), but we’ll watch Purdue on film.”